So… When’s The Best Time to Post on Instagram By Nicole Healy

One of the most commonly asked questions I get is this! So, what’s the answer?

It really just depends on who your audience is and what time of the day they’re generally online, plus their social media behaviours and it also depends on which feed you’re looking at!

Instagram updated the app a few months back to a Chronological Feed - so this means people will see your content in a Time Posted order, rather than a predicted order!

You can now choose to view content via HOME, FOLLOWING or FAVOURITES feeds!

Let’s learn about the different feeds and how it effects the time you post

The Instagram HOME FEED is where Instagram predicts content you’ll see.

This is based on the Algorithm and how it measures what it thinks you’ll be interested in!

This feed also will show you content from people you don’t follow - that you may be interested in, plus content of those you follow and engage with most often and ads!

The Instagram FOLLOWING FEED is where Instagram will show you content of those you follow, in Chronological order!

This means, you’ll see content in the TIME ORDER that they’re posted! The benefits of the timeline feed over the algorithmic feed means, your newest post with automatically be placed at the top of the feed, in time you posted order! Not based on how likely you are to engage, simply by the time you posted! The Instagram FAVOURITES FEED allows you to select 50 of your favourite accounts to follow, and only see their content in this feed and in Chronological time order!

So you’ll see their posts at the time they posted, not by how likely you are to engage with their content!

If your someone who follows your stats Instagram give you inside your insights, just remember that these are just a guide! What I find best, is to ask your audience when they’re most active on Instagram! The stats you see in your insights inside of your MOST ACTIVE TIMES (which you will find inside of your Total Followers tab inside of the insights) may only vary by 10 -20 people!

So just say Instagram tells you that at 6pm you have 250 people online on Instagram at that time (based on the week before) and you have 240 people online at 9am, from a strategy point of few, I would personally recommend posting at the 9am time, because you’re opening yourself up to get more engagement through the day, rather than at 6pm, where you may only have a max of 2 hrs, maybe 3hrs to get engagement and reach on your posts.

If you think about it, those 10 people really aren’t going to make or break your post going viral and getting reach, it’s the post itself.

If your content isn’t up to scratch, it wouldn’t matter what time you posted, it’s not scroll stopping enough to make people stop to look at what you’ve shared. Food for thought around time and engagement...

If you post in the AM, you allow your content more engagement throughout the day, as more people are online

If you post in the PM after 8pm - 9pm, you’re only allowing yourself 1-2hrs MAX to gain engagement in a timely order.

For the next month, try and get your posts up in the early morning before 9am to allow 12 hours to gain engagement

Make sure your audience on Instagram is in your location...

If they’re not from your Location / City - you need to do some major engagement to attract people who live in your city to follow you and book with you ! Otherwise, you’re promoting your business to a cold audience. If your audience isn’t in your time zone - you could be posting at the wrong time!

If you’re in Perth but your followers are from the eastern states - you’ll need to adjust your posting times ....

If you and your team are in need of some social media training, you can book me for a Private Class In Your Salon to LEVEL UP on Socials.

You can find all the info at www.melbournehairblogger.com.au/ socialsalonschool

Make sure to follow me on Instagram @social.salon.school for more tips about Instagram for Salons.